Father Daniel Brottier was born in Blois, France, on September 7, 1876. In 1899, he was ordained a priest in his diocese, and after joining the Congregation of the Fathers of the Holy Spirit, he left for Africa as a missionary, settling in Saint-Louis, Senegal, in 1903, where he devoted his entire ministry to the youth and children of Africa.

During World War I, he enlisted as a chaplain. His dedication and courage in gathering the wounded, treating them, and carrying them on his back to the rear through enemy fire earned him the title of “Legendary Chaplain.” In four years of combat on the front lines, he never suffered a single injury.

A great devotee of Saint Thérèse, to whom he attributed his protection from all dangers during the war, it was to her that he confided all his thoughts and concerns.

In 1923, he became director of the Auteuil Orphanage for Apprentices, a home for abandoned children and young people, and came to be known as the “Father of Orphans.” He devoted the last thirteen years of his life to this work. A natural-born educator and a kind-hearted man, he managed to take in some 1,400 needy and abandoned children and young people, never turning away anyone who knocked on his door!

Always devoted to the “poor” and the “little ones,” from Senegal to Auteuil, Father Brottier’s entire life was inspired by a faith that overcame the most insurmountable obstacles—a faith that motivated all his projects on behalf of the most disadvantaged!

He died on February 28, 1936.

Father Daniel Brottier was beatified by Pope John Paul II on November 25, 1984, after his body was found to be intact, just as it had been on the day of his burial.